By Pepper Fisher

CLALLAM COUNTY – Four new deaths attributed to Covid-19 were reported Tuesday in Clallam County. Health Officer Dr. Allison Berry discussed the largest single-day number of deaths reported locally since the pandemic began.

“We always report deaths by the date that we are notified of them. So the deaths actually occurred within the last week or so, but all the death certificates happened to arrive yesterday. And so, I wouldn’t be over-concerned about the fact that it happened yesterday, but I think these death do show that when you have this really high rate of transmission, you are going to continue to see people die of this infection. And at much higher rates than we would like to see.”

Dr. Berry says the best way to reduce the number of deaths is to reduce the rate of infection in the community, and the best way to do that is to get more people vaccinated.

Of these latest victims of the virus, two were vaccinated and two were not.

“We had a gentleman in his 60s who passed away. He was unvaccinated. We had a another gentleman in his 80s who was unvaccinated, and then we had two really frail elders, who were vaccinated. We had a man in his 90s who had a lot of advanced medical conditions, and another man in his 70s, who was also quite ill and a resident of one of our long-term care facilities.”

Tuesday the CDC authorized emergency use of kid-size doses for children ages 5 to 11. Dr. Berry, speaking before that approval was granted, said those vaccines are already on their way to Clallam County.

“We’re watching the CDC’s deliberations today, and if we do get the go-ahead, a green light from CDC, we are poised to start vaccinating kids five to eleven next week. So we’ve received shipment notifications that they’re en route to Clallam County as we speak.”